


the sun works twice as hard (the moon is twice as far)

by spock



Category: White Collar
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe - Star Wars Setting, M/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-16
Updated: 2014-08-16
Packaged: 2018-02-13 11:39:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2149359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spock/pseuds/spock
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Neal's gone through five Masters since he passed his Trails. Master Burr's the only one who hasn't insisted he bury his personality, even though nothing riles his Master up more than <i>personalities</i>, especially Neal's.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the sun works twice as hard (the moon is twice as far)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SevlinRipley](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SevlinRipley/gifts).



> for the prompt:
>
>> AU - Star Wars, Peter is a Jedi Master, and Neal is his infuriating, rebellious padawan (whom he still loves a whole, whole lot and really it's kind of a problem.)

"No, no, no," Master Burr shouts as he stomps his way across the field, pulling to a stop once he's reached his Padawan so that he can snatch the training saber from Neal's hands. "You're doing it all wrong! What the hell did they teach you as a youngling?"

"Oh, so now there's a wrong way to use the Force?" Neal mocks. Master Burr's face goes bright red, his lips clinched shut. Neal smiles at him beatifically, knowing that he's won. His Master swipes at his head, tries to cuff his ear, but Neal dodges out of the way, let's himself fall backwards until he hits the ground, landing cushioned by the thick, lush grass of Null's forests. 

Master Burr's words sound like they're being dragged out of his throat by the Force itself when he admits, "There's no wrong way to use it, no."

"But," his Master stresses as he gathers his robes and takes a seat next to where Neal's sprawled out, neatly arranging the fabric once he's settled, "there is an economical way of doing things, and an excessive way, and Neal? You sure don't do things the economical way." 

"It doesn't feel excessive to me though, Master. Sometimes it feels like there's too much of the Force flowing through me. I have to get it out somehow," Neal admits. He takes his Master's hand into his own and places it in the hollow of his neck. "Can't you feel it? I've always been this way. The Seer's could sense me before I even left the womb; surely you've heard _that_ tale," Neal laments. Throughout his entire childhood Neal was told that his relationship with the Force was one for the ages, that he's have command of it more acutely than any other Jedi that'd come before him.

Then he'd passed his Initiate trial, and the next thing Neal knew, everyone was admonishing him for using the Force the wrong way; suddenly this thing that'd come to him easier than breathing — than walking, than speech — was supposedly wasted by Neal's mismanagement of it. Master Burr's knuckles brush against the underside of Neal's chin, the soft movement drawing a sigh out of the Padawan. 

He keeps his head tipped back, stares at the neutral expression on his Master's face as his eyes trace the line of Neal's throat. Master Burr's face turns saccharine for a few moments and the sight of it makes Neal's heart ache, but between one blink and the next, the look is gone.

"I know, Neal," Master Burr sighs. He shakes off Neal's grip and curves his hand around Neal's jaw, strokes at Neal's cheek with his thumb. Neal's eyes slip closed and he thinks to himself, _Peter_ ; a thought so clear and bright and all-encompassing that he isn't surprised that Master Burr stills and sharply replies, "Don't." On the ever-growing list of things he's pushed into his Master's head, this is far from the least embarrassing.

Master Burr pulls his hand away and slips it back into the sleeve of his robes, dropping it down into his lap. He clears his throat, says, "Now, what have I said about you wearing your hair like that? Why is tradition so hard for you to follow, Neal? Braid your damn hair."

Neal flops over onto his side so that he's facing away from his Master, groans out a put upon huff. "I'm terrible at it! Every time I try you just yell at me for how bad it looks," Neal complains, because turnabout is fair play. Neal's gone through five Masters since he passed his Trails. Master Burr's the only one who hasn't insisted he bury his personality, even though nothing riles his Master up more than _personalities_ , especially Neal's. 

"Well it's a good thing you've got yourself such a skilled Master then, huh?" Master Burr decides; if Neal didn't know his Master so well, he'd swear he was bragging. With a flick of his wrist he's got Neal sitting up straight. Neal bitches about how that certainly wasn't an economical use of the Force, but Master Burr ignores him, as he is forever wont to do. 

He combs his fingers through Neal's hair, gathering up the longer strands at the nape of his neck. It's nice, comforting; feeling his Master gently braid his hair, taking his time so that each plait lays flat and perfect. Neal settles into himself, concentrates on the Force flowing through him, the Force flowing through his Master, the Force running through the grass beneath them, the Force that's pulsing through the core of planet so much farther down; Neal takes it all in until he can't tell the difference between any given one.

**Author's Note:**

> tl;dr headcanon but
>
>> [imagine scrolling star wars credits] this is set way way before the force wars, probably during the era of peace (26,000-ish BBY). neal's the strongest jedi to ever live, so strong that the high council had been able to sense him the moment he was conceived; he's taken in by jedi order as a baby, he's that important.
>> 
>> after going through a handful of masters, he lands peter, who he falls in love with, and who comes to love him. typical star wars-type battles happen and during one particularly close call, neal nearly destroys the entire universe to save peter. the council freak out because suddenly they realize that **(a)** someone having completely control over the force maybe is less awesome and could be more of, y'know, a ticking time bomb and also **(b)** maybe jedi's, especially powerful ones who fight in the line of duty, should be disallowed from making attachments or being overly emotional in general. **b** obviously leads to the rules we know and love that give rise to darth vader some twenty-five thousand years later.
>> 
>> neal's like, "lol okay whatever byeeee" so he and peter leave the knighthood and settle on an uninhabited planet and live their until their nice, peaceful old man deaths. the Force is kinda pissed that jedi's wasting it's One True Son, so it vows to never give another jedi such intense power ever again [fade to black]


End file.
